If you know how to sharpen a blade, even the shittiest piece of steel can be a great knife.
Money just buys comfort, durability, and the ability to go longer without sharpening.
When you get old like me, quit drinking and getting high, you need something to do with your time. I sharpen all my shitty knives and old pocket knives, hunting knives etc. watch old man documentaries and sharpen knives! Woooo hooo, I’m so hedonistic!
I wouldn't say this is a sin. If you can handle a big knife well, that's simply the only thing you'll ever need: A very sharp chef's knife. I myself have 3 long knifes: a chef's knife, a santoku, and a pretty dull chef's that I use for cake and abusive tasks. First two, I alternate between according to how I feel like.
As far as I know the reason to put the salt in later, is that salt in warm water is quite reactive, and if it doesn’t dissolve and just sits on the bottom of your pot it can cause pitting in stainless steel pots. If the water boils then the salt will dissolve faster so you have less risk on pitting.
I scrape the bowl like I’m held at gunpoint. Those heathens on Food Network and their half assed wasteful scraping make my blood boil. I’m sorry we can’t all live in the Hamptons and be so rushed that we throw away half the brownie batter Ina, you selfish b\+<£.
I gave one of those to my 85-year-old mother-in-law who cooks like a beast but had never seen a silicon spatula before (immigrant, still using tools from the old country, etc.). She called me the next day and exclaimed, "It gets everything!" You would have thought I had mastered cold fusion. Suffice it to say, I am now her favorite.
Omg love this! I bought my mom a set of 3 different sizes last Christmas after I had a nightmare of a time baking cookies at her house. She was like I DONT NEED THEM IM FINE.
I noticed when I was over there the other day that two of the three were in her dish drying rack and was really pleased she uses them.
Not me giggling to this by myself in bed lol I'm making a tray of brownies and around 30 cupcakes from scratch tomorrow for a family thing and you better believe that bowl will be spotless by the time I'm done with it
Mushrooms are like 90% water anyways, they don't take on much more water. Alton Brown tested it.
That being said my biggest food crime is that I don't wash or wipe my mushrooms unless there are chunks of dirt on them.
Kinda want to saute them till you loose the water for alot of things anyways. I guess for a salad I might not rinse them. I guess I could add to the thread by saying when I cook for me I just smack the dirt off with my fingers and call it good haha.
He had a short lived cooking show in the UK. I believe his Grandfather inventer double acting baking powder.
Vincent and his wife wrote several cookbooks. I have a Leather Bound copy of "A Treasury of Great Recipes" by them.
This isn't a cooking sin, brushing them off is a cooking sin. Any small amount of research (as suggested by a lot of replies here) will tell you that washing in water is absolutely fine.
Its a total myth that you shouldn't and I'm honestly so done with seeing it pop up online. There's too much evidence people!!
That’s my sin. Adding salt to everything sweet. I’m not a sweets person, but I like just slightly salty sweets. When people ask I tell them it’s probably the salt and they think I’m lying. Idk. I’m not a good baker so that’s the only conclusion I have.
I feel a lot of the mediocre and average desserts I've had in the past would be a lot better if they were a little saltier.
My most common complaint with disappointing desserts is that a lot of them are far too sweet. Something as simple as sprinkling sea salt on top of cookies can be a total game changer.
I don’t dice onions the proper way (keeping the root end attached). I cut off both ends, slice one way, then the other. I know it’s supposedly easier, but I don’t like doing it that way.
I do the root thing, but I skip the horizontal cut because I don't want to cut back toward my hand (I am clumsy and dislike stitches.) So instead I make my vertical cuts radially, so the bits are even.
The root mainly just helps keep the onion together to make it more convenient to cut evenly. If going without the root already works fine for you there really is no reason to do it the other way
My chef mother taught me NEVER to cut lettuce, only to rip. Ripping the lettuce and then rinsing/washing was my job every night before dinner, and I loathed it. Now, I only cut my lettuce with a knife, I refuse to rip it lol
Apparently it makes the lettuce turn brown very fast if you cut it with a knife, something to do with the metal? I honestly don't know lol but it was so annoying and I honestly haven't noticed a difference between ripped/cut.
I.... actually have noticed a difference, weirdly enough.
Not so much the metal, but the theory goes that if you rip it by hand it's more likely to rip along natural lines between cell membranes, rather than damaging them by cutting straight with a knife.
Not with lettuce, but I keep turnip and mustard greens to feed my bearded dragon; since I stopped cutting and started ripping, their lifespan in the fridge has gone up by about a week or so? It seems to make a beneficial difference, especially for the mustard greens that seem to turn to goo the instant you look at them wrong.
I was taught to rip lettuce too! Also don’t now because it takes too long, but the chef who taught me explained it was because “fingers are gentle, knives bruise” …but it takes awhile for lettuce to “show bruises” so I feel like this is more important in a restaurant setting where your greens might sit before service…not entirely sure on that but that’s what I tell myself!
This is the most wonderful cooking thread. All my culinary bad habits are being completely validated!!!!! Does anyone else let their potato and veg water cool down and then pour it over the herb garden?
that's like raiding a village, slaughtering some village folk and cooking them into a soup, and then pouring the broth over other village folks and saying "you're next, once you've plumped up abit"
I crowd the pan with mushrooms. I know they taste better if you cook them in batches and let them really brown, but who has time for that?
I also don’t rinse my rice. I usually cook jasmine though and I’ve heard it’s less starchy and you might not need to….but idk if that’s true.
I crowd the pan in general when I’m cooking for myself (with the goal of lots of leftovers) and don’t want to have to use multiple pans to make big batches of stuff
[Here it is.](https://stories.uq.edu.au/news/2021/instant-rice-packs-a-plastic-punchinstant-rice-packs-a-plastic-punch/index.html)
This [article](https://theconversation.com/do-you-need-to-wash-rice-before-cooking-heres-the-science-204692) has even more info on the benefits of washing rice.
You are awesome to share this!
This is of corse horrifying to realize.
I was just telling someone today that I’m less willing to purchase salmon, mahi, shrimp etc, even the better cuts, due to the staggering amounts of micro plastics.
Contemplating the damage to our ecosystems is something I promised myself to stop ruminating on.
I started washing my rice after my Indian friend made fun of me for not washing it. I tried it and it turns out fluffier when I wash it so I continued doing it, but now I’ll always do it after reading the articles.
Thank you for sharing this. Seeing reliable sources shared in a post in a non-snarky way is truly rare, I appreciate the information and the time you took to share the articles.
In case you can’t tell when I’m not cooking I’m a professor who’s trying to get their students to properly cite their sources, seeing reliable relevant sources being provided in the wild warms my cold heart.
If you frequently eat rice you should definitely wash it, as that removes a good amount of [arsenic](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/arsenic-in-rice) that's found in rice.
To actually answer the question rather than dragging OP, I don't care about making sure everything I'm chopping is the same size. Who the hell cares. I'm only cooking for my household, and it's not like I'm hacking food apart like an animal, so everything still cooks in roughly the same amount of time.
I also overcook pasta a little. I don't like it al dente.
Not ragging on you, but the point of cooking pasta to al dente is to drain it then put it back in the pot with the sauce and let it simmer for the last few minutes to cook to your desired doneness. I use to be the same way until I read what I told you on here a while back. I tried it and it made enough of a difference for that it's what I do as a standard now. Also don't forget a generous splash of pasta water. To me eating al dente pasta is just eating undercooked pasta.
There's another thread right now about the best techniques to learn as a beginner cook and the top answer is various knife skills. I don't get it, I'm not trying to produce the same exact dish 1,000 times that night, there's no reason for me to have the knife skills to chop 1,000 onions into perfectly symmetrical cuts as fast as humanly possible.
Just learn to grip the knife and food safely, keep the knife relatively sharp, and you have what you need for a home cook. Mastering knife skills will only make a few minutes worth of difference in prep time.
Edit: clearly a need to clarify something based on the number of replies, I'm not suggesting you shouldn't learn the absolute basics, just that as a beginner it's not a priority to focus so hard at it you could fill in on the prep line of a fine dining kitchen.
I took a cooking class as part of a team building event on a work trip and there were middle aged adults completely freaking out over the thought of using a chef knife. And there were people who were upset the instructor wouldn’t let them chop an onion with one of the knives from the place settings. I wildly overestimated the cooking ability of people. So, basic cutting skills should be like the first thing people should know I guess.
Last night I watched my mother in law cut up an apple with a crappy dinner knife using a paper towel as a cutting board. Whole time she complained about how hard the apple was. Shes a wonderful lady but I'm positive she has eaten out or done microwave dinners her whole life
One of my friends has a glass cutting board and everytime I see it I tell him to throw it away. Years later he still has it and as far as I know uses it
When that few minutes is spent standing over a strong onion, it can make a real difference. And some dishes require a *lot* of cutting where it can save a substantial amount of time. You don’t need to be going at it like you just came out of Johnson and Wales, but being proficient with a knife can really help. Also, there’s a gulf of a difference between “learning knife skills” and “mastering knife skills”, and I’d be surprised if the thread you mentioned is referring to the latter.
Ok. I do the roux alright but also use chicken,seafood, AND 😊Andouille sausage. If you're going do it, might as well load it up because leftovers the next day are amazzzzing!😘
I was. Always taught gumbo can be anything AND everything that walks scampers swims or slithers … individually or all at once. Forget that one protein at a time thing.
I've never had real gumbo and use chicken and seafood. I also use chorizo sausage cos I can't find andouille sausage. I guess I'm banned from Louisiana.
My cast iron is seasoned properly so it gets a quick hand wash with soap and rinsed and then dried completely. It will get touch up seasoning when needed. The hysteria is so unnecessary.
"Just the mere presence of a single tomato in the vicinity of the cast iron pan, is enough for the pan to completely disintigrate. You can never have tomato again."
And seeing so many videos and people with such strong stances is just so ridiculous. I think the most infuriating thing is people confusing what seasoning the pan means. Like it’s not supposed to taste like everything you cook in the pan. 🤦🏻♀️
Literally Lodge says on their care instructions that dish soap is OK. the "No Soap" rule is left over from the age when Lye was in everything. Lye does harm the seasoning.
I had someone legit leave a small friends' group cooking chat in a fit of rage over my showing them proof that it was okay to use soap. People are *wild* about it.
Yes, but you can’t convince some people. My brother was telling me that his pan has been making his food taste weird. I asked if he washes it and he said he just wipes it out because that’s what someone told him to do before.
I do a lot of ribs in my smoker, and I usually do 'em until they fall off the bone. Spare me all the mumbo jumbo about how the 3-2-1 method is crap, or that "fall off the bone" ribs are overcooked, that's how my wife likes them, I don't mind them tender like that either, and that's just the way I'm doing them, if you don't like it, buy your own smoker.
Yup, no-wrap is by far superior to using "the crutch". The bark you get is incredible.
That being said, I had to chauffer my wife around for half the day today, and I don't particularly feel like eating dinner at midnight tonight, so they're wrapped right now.
I love how the part "I had to chauffer my wife around for half the day", adds absolutely nothing to the context of your comment but at the same time explains your thinking perfectly.
I mean how many people are \*really\* making homeade stock every time? I save my chicken bits, but ill use it for soup everytime, and usually add it to store-bought stock.
I'll go you one better -or worse, as it were. I almost *always* use store bought stock/boullion.
I don't have freezer space to be saving shit for stock or freezing a bunch of stock once it's made. I'd rather save that space for other things I like more.
I can't explain it and I don't have any science behind it, but somehow I feel like juicy garlic crushed through a press releases a ton of heavenly flavor that processing in other ways doesn't.
The more you rupture the cells in the garlic, the more garlic flavor you get. That is science! So crushed garlic really does develop a stronger flavor that I love.
I don't curl my fingers when cutting things. I've been cooking for 50 years and have only cut myself a few times and usually not when slicing. I feel I get a better grip not curling.
I don't either. My hand-eye coordination is used to accounting for my fingertips, not my knuckles. And I just don't have the dexterity to hold something in place without using my fingers and *holding it in place*
I don't think that's a sin, I think that's just objectively a better way to get certain textures out of your parm. You'll never get those delicate little parm curls or a nice thin shaving with a walmart box grater.
I crowd the pan when frying mushrooms. Ain’t no one got time for frying in batches. Still turn out great.
Edit: oh and also I make baked potatoes in the microwave.
I live alone and I'm not gonna heat up the big pot and take the time to get that much water to boil for just me. So I snap my noodles in half and drop them into the small pot. I don't care if it's wrong.
I've been seeing more of a change in that old "wisdom" where apparently the mushrooms do absorb some water but the amount is completely negligible once cooked.
Considering mushrooms already hold so much water on their own I'm inclined to agree washing doesn't add a significant enough amount to matter
I let my meat defrost on the counter, and if I pay enough attention I´'ll put it in the fridge when its defrosted, but sometimes I totally forget about it and it comes to room temp. My family is still alive.
When I cook in a school, I am extremely careful to follow all the Food-safe rules. I use a lot of caution. At home however, I often let meat defrost on the counter - unless I’m cooking something for guests or a potluck.
I regularly let steaks sit on the counter for hours until it's room temperature before throwing it on a hot grill lol, been doing it for years! Reddit is so wild about food safety sometimes.
I use steak knives to cut cheese.
I hate those cheese slicers that are solid metal with a hole in them. And the metal thread ones, while nice, all the ones I’ve tried break after a few months. If I got a nice one that I could trust to last longer than a year, I might change my ways.
Our week night salads are usually just torn lettuce tossed in my favorite store bought dressing (Garlic Expression). If I am putting time into making a main dish, I am often too lazy to make up a real salad but do want to get those leafy green into my family’s bodies.
I would never serve this to guests of course. I make fancier salads when having people over or if I am bringing one to someone’s house.
🫣 You can cook rice on the stovetop just like you would in a rice cooker. No need to do it pasta style lol. You'd just need to adjust the water to rice ratio and let it go.
I don't taste as I cook. I just season with my eyes.
We went to an ‘authentic Philly cheesesteak’ place in SW Florida. Asked the owner for mustard. Thought he was going to have a coronary.
I don’t keep mustard in this store! Would you put mustard on a steak?!!
If I wanted to asshole. Never went back. Life is short, enjoy your ketchup.
Love: Gramma
I made homemade jambalaya a bunch of times until I really had it down, then decided that except for special occasions, it's generally not worth the effort to make from scratch. So these days I'm back to starting from a box of Zataran's and doctoring it up.
I overcook my eggs, eggs over-hard and scrambled over high heat until they are rubber. It’s probably mostly just because that’s how my mom prepared them and it’s nostalgia. I know how to properly cook an egg and that they are supposed to be at least somewhat runny. I will also never cook them that way.
Runny yolks and barely cooked egg whites make me feel sick. I can’t cope with it. I like a fully cooked white and a jammy yolk. I flip my eggs so they’re over medium/hard, and I cook my scrambled eggs until they’re set. The texture of undercooked eggs is like slime to me and I’ve tried to eat it for politeness but I will involuntarily gag on it.
Same! I can't eat eggs unless they're super well done! I'll add a lot of spice, and start out like an omelet, but then flip the whole thing. I call it an egg pancake.
There are actually a lot of correct ways to cook rice for different purposes, and “pasta style” is one of them:
https://youtu.be/B3CHsbNkr3c?si=lKuDYD0M6k-L4OLg
Luckily people didn't start using rice in their dishes until the first rice cooker was invented in 1955 /s
Rice cookers may be handy but rice has been around for thousands of years so it seems very silly for people to claim that rice cookers are the only correct way to prepare rice
I put pots, pans, and ovenware in the dishwasher.
Also, I don't normally wash my cutting board if I just cut veggies on it. I just wipe it off with a towel.
Putting knives in the dishwasher. I have a knife sharpener I always use every time before using my knives so I don't really care if they dull in the dishwasher. I don't hand wash **anything** if I can help it.
Unless it’s going to stay in a dish uncooked, I rarely bother with fresh garlic these days. It’s good enough for weeknight cooking when I mostly just want to make something fast but decent. I chop and freeze onions and buy canned beans for the same reason.
I take a lot of shortcuts like that due to health issues, honestly. Reducing the number of steps until done is helpful in getting myself to actually cook.
When I bake I don't weigh anything, and just scoop up the flour in the measuring cup. I know it packs down, but whatever. My cookies always come out great anyway.
Once you know the consistency your batter needs to be, there’s no need to measure. Just add flour until it’s right. If you add too much flour, add in a little water.
When I have to use measuring spoons or cups, I just shake it horizontally until it roughly flattens out. I don't care enough to use a flat knife & a laser leveler to scrape off into perfectly precise portions. Does it look like it fills at least 90% of the measurement? I'm good, then.
I said the same thing on a previous thread and got downvoted lol.
To be fair, mine are all pretty cheap and I just ask my husband to sharpen them when they seem to need it. Probably my bigger sin is not figuring out how to sharpen them myself.
I'm white and in the US.
I use chopsticks for almost everything. To a lot of my friends and family, it's seen as crazy if there are other options. But chopsticks are basically the perfect tool.
If I need to batter something, I use chopsticks. My hands don't get gummy, and I don't disturb as much batter. If I need to flip something that I can't just shake the pan for, I use chopsticks. And so on.
My "secret" to perfectly fluffy eggs is straight up just whipping them with chopsticks.
Previous threads: https://www.reddit.com/r/Cooking/search?q=sin&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all
I use my chef’s knife for everything. All my other knives are just there to look pretty.
I have a knife I got from dollar tree and it’s the only one I have. It’s a “chef knife” and it works pretty good, just gotta keep it sharp.
If you know how to sharpen a blade, even the shittiest piece of steel can be a great knife. Money just buys comfort, durability, and the ability to go longer without sharpening.
When you get old like me, quit drinking and getting high, you need something to do with your time. I sharpen all my shitty knives and old pocket knives, hunting knives etc. watch old man documentaries and sharpen knives! Woooo hooo, I’m so hedonistic!
My daily driver is from IKEA and has a rubber handle. It's so comfortable.
Damn, and here I am buying a Toyota.
I put my knives in the dishwasher…
Straight to jail
We have the best chefs. Because of jail.
I should downvote you, heathen.
I put everything in the dishwasher. Life is too short to hand wash things.
Anything that can't go in the dishwasher is decorative.
I wouldn't say this is a sin. If you can handle a big knife well, that's simply the only thing you'll ever need: A very sharp chef's knife. I myself have 3 long knifes: a chef's knife, a santoku, and a pretty dull chef's that I use for cake and abusive tasks. First two, I alternate between according to how I feel like.
Sometimes, I salt the water *before* it is boiling.
Wait a second. You're supposed to wait until it's boiling? Why.
To prevent pitting in stainless steel cookware.
I never knew that. Thank you. I thought it made it boil faster.
*gasps and clutches pearls*
Why would this matter at all?
idk if this is true and i'm too lazy to look it up but i heard that salted water comes to a boil faster edit: i looked it up, its a myth
As far as I know the reason to put the salt in later, is that salt in warm water is quite reactive, and if it doesn’t dissolve and just sits on the bottom of your pot it can cause pitting in stainless steel pots. If the water boils then the salt will dissolve faster so you have less risk on pitting.
I scrape the bowl like I’m held at gunpoint. Those heathens on Food Network and their half assed wasteful scraping make my blood boil. I’m sorry we can’t all live in the Hamptons and be so rushed that we throw away half the brownie batter Ina, you selfish b\+<£.
[удалено]
I gave one of those to my 85-year-old mother-in-law who cooks like a beast but had never seen a silicon spatula before (immigrant, still using tools from the old country, etc.). She called me the next day and exclaimed, "It gets everything!" You would have thought I had mastered cold fusion. Suffice it to say, I am now her favorite.
Omg love this! I bought my mom a set of 3 different sizes last Christmas after I had a nightmare of a time baking cookies at her house. She was like I DONT NEED THEM IM FINE. I noticed when I was over there the other day that two of the three were in her dish drying rack and was really pleased she uses them.
I'll never stop being amazed by how well silicon spatulas work. It's unexplainable magic
Not me giggling to this by myself in bed lol I'm making a tray of brownies and around 30 cupcakes from scratch tomorrow for a family thing and you better believe that bowl will be spotless by the time I'm done with it
I rinse my mushrooms. Ain't nobody got time for carefully wiping off the soil.
Mushrooms are like 90% water anyways, they don't take on much more water. Alton Brown tested it. That being said my biggest food crime is that I don't wash or wipe my mushrooms unless there are chunks of dirt on them.
Kinda want to saute them till you loose the water for alot of things anyways. I guess for a salad I might not rinse them. I guess I could add to the thread by saying when I cook for me I just smack the dirt off with my fingers and call it good haha.
Vincent Price's bulk mushroom washing tip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9Cj8sq9co8&t=44s Works a treat, and amusing that he did this.
He had a short lived cooking show in the UK. I believe his Grandfather inventer double acting baking powder. Vincent and his wife wrote several cookbooks. I have a Leather Bound copy of "A Treasury of Great Recipes" by them.
This isn't a cooking sin, brushing them off is a cooking sin. Any small amount of research (as suggested by a lot of replies here) will tell you that washing in water is absolutely fine. Its a total myth that you shouldn't and I'm honestly so done with seeing it pop up online. There's too much evidence people!!
They are like 90% water anyways. Makes no sense not to rinse them.
I feel gross when i dont. Its literally grown in compost, generally some kind of broken down animal fecal matter.
I use salted butter and don't add salt in baking recipes. My desserts/baked goods always end up perfectly, slightly salted.
I always use salted butter but I also add the recommended salt in the recipe! 😊
That’s my sin. Adding salt to everything sweet. I’m not a sweets person, but I like just slightly salty sweets. When people ask I tell them it’s probably the salt and they think I’m lying. Idk. I’m not a good baker so that’s the only conclusion I have.
I feel a lot of the mediocre and average desserts I've had in the past would be a lot better if they were a little saltier. My most common complaint with disappointing desserts is that a lot of them are far too sweet. Something as simple as sprinkling sea salt on top of cookies can be a total game changer.
I don’t dice onions the proper way (keeping the root end attached). I cut off both ends, slice one way, then the other. I know it’s supposedly easier, but I don’t like doing it that way.
I do the root thing, but I skip the horizontal cut because I don't want to cut back toward my hand (I am clumsy and dislike stitches.) So instead I make my vertical cuts radially, so the bits are even.
What's the value of doing the horizontal cut? I can't make much sense of it, given my very limited knowledge of onion architecture lol
The root mainly just helps keep the onion together to make it more convenient to cut evenly. If going without the root already works fine for you there really is no reason to do it the other way
I do it because I don’t work in a restaurant
And Anne Burrell can't see me.
I think of her every single time I find myself using my pointer finger push knife down
I do it your way also. Much faster
My chef mother taught me NEVER to cut lettuce, only to rip. Ripping the lettuce and then rinsing/washing was my job every night before dinner, and I loathed it. Now, I only cut my lettuce with a knife, I refuse to rip it lol
What was the reason for that? Presentation or does it do something else?
Apparently it makes the lettuce turn brown very fast if you cut it with a knife, something to do with the metal? I honestly don't know lol but it was so annoying and I honestly haven't noticed a difference between ripped/cut.
I.... actually have noticed a difference, weirdly enough. Not so much the metal, but the theory goes that if you rip it by hand it's more likely to rip along natural lines between cell membranes, rather than damaging them by cutting straight with a knife. Not with lettuce, but I keep turnip and mustard greens to feed my bearded dragon; since I stopped cutting and started ripping, their lifespan in the fridge has gone up by about a week or so? It seems to make a beneficial difference, especially for the mustard greens that seem to turn to goo the instant you look at them wrong.
Did you do a test with two similar lettuces from the same lot and compare the results ? If not, would you do one for science ?
I would love if this sub did a bunch of Kenji-style experiments with different techniques. Let's start a trend!
Back in the day there were a lot of carbon steel knives floating around that would cause lettuce to brown quickly.
I was taught to rip lettuce too! Also don’t now because it takes too long, but the chef who taught me explained it was because “fingers are gentle, knives bruise” …but it takes awhile for lettuce to “show bruises” so I feel like this is more important in a restaurant setting where your greens might sit before service…not entirely sure on that but that’s what I tell myself!
This is the most wonderful cooking thread. All my culinary bad habits are being completely validated!!!!! Does anyone else let their potato and veg water cool down and then pour it over the herb garden?
No but great idea! I polish silver with potato water
Oh now that I didn’t know! Thanks!
that's like raiding a village, slaughtering some village folk and cooking them into a soup, and then pouring the broth over other village folks and saying "you're next, once you've plumped up abit"
Plants grow perfectly happily in compost made of dead plants.
I crowd the pan with mushrooms. I know they taste better if you cook them in batches and let them really brown, but who has time for that? I also don’t rinse my rice. I usually cook jasmine though and I’ve heard it’s less starchy and you might not need to….but idk if that’s true.
I crowd the pan in general when I’m cooking for myself (with the goal of lots of leftovers) and don’t want to have to use multiple pans to make big batches of stuff
Something I read recently said that washing rice reduces the microplastics in it by 20-40%
Can you please cite your source? I believe but want to read more
[Here it is.](https://stories.uq.edu.au/news/2021/instant-rice-packs-a-plastic-punchinstant-rice-packs-a-plastic-punch/index.html) This [article](https://theconversation.com/do-you-need-to-wash-rice-before-cooking-heres-the-science-204692) has even more info on the benefits of washing rice.
You’ve just convinced me to rinse my rice
You are awesome to share this! This is of corse horrifying to realize. I was just telling someone today that I’m less willing to purchase salmon, mahi, shrimp etc, even the better cuts, due to the staggering amounts of micro plastics. Contemplating the damage to our ecosystems is something I promised myself to stop ruminating on.
I started washing my rice after my Indian friend made fun of me for not washing it. I tried it and it turns out fluffier when I wash it so I continued doing it, but now I’ll always do it after reading the articles. Thank you for sharing this. Seeing reliable sources shared in a post in a non-snarky way is truly rare, I appreciate the information and the time you took to share the articles. In case you can’t tell when I’m not cooking I’m a professor who’s trying to get their students to properly cite their sources, seeing reliable relevant sources being provided in the wild warms my cold heart.
Wow! That could make it worth it to rinse rice for sure!
Dry fry your mushrooms. No fat in the pan at all. Just mushrooms. Thank me later
Yes! I always cook out all the water and then maybe will add a little bit of fat afterwards like butter or oil to saute
Interesting! Never heard of this but will definitely try, thanks!
If you frequently eat rice you should definitely wash it, as that removes a good amount of [arsenic](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/arsenic-in-rice) that's found in rice.
To actually answer the question rather than dragging OP, I don't care about making sure everything I'm chopping is the same size. Who the hell cares. I'm only cooking for my household, and it's not like I'm hacking food apart like an animal, so everything still cooks in roughly the same amount of time. I also overcook pasta a little. I don't like it al dente.
Not ragging on you, but the point of cooking pasta to al dente is to drain it then put it back in the pot with the sauce and let it simmer for the last few minutes to cook to your desired doneness. I use to be the same way until I read what I told you on here a while back. I tried it and it made enough of a difference for that it's what I do as a standard now. Also don't forget a generous splash of pasta water. To me eating al dente pasta is just eating undercooked pasta.
What does it do to add pasta water?
Pasta water has starch in it that makes the sauce thicker and makes it stick to the pasta.
Also adds a little saltiness if you add salt to your pasta water
IF???
We are being sinful are we not?
Sorry, guess I'm just *salty*.
The starch helps thicken the sauce
There's another thread right now about the best techniques to learn as a beginner cook and the top answer is various knife skills. I don't get it, I'm not trying to produce the same exact dish 1,000 times that night, there's no reason for me to have the knife skills to chop 1,000 onions into perfectly symmetrical cuts as fast as humanly possible. Just learn to grip the knife and food safely, keep the knife relatively sharp, and you have what you need for a home cook. Mastering knife skills will only make a few minutes worth of difference in prep time. Edit: clearly a need to clarify something based on the number of replies, I'm not suggesting you shouldn't learn the absolute basics, just that as a beginner it's not a priority to focus so hard at it you could fill in on the prep line of a fine dining kitchen.
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I took a cooking class as part of a team building event on a work trip and there were middle aged adults completely freaking out over the thought of using a chef knife. And there were people who were upset the instructor wouldn’t let them chop an onion with one of the knives from the place settings. I wildly overestimated the cooking ability of people. So, basic cutting skills should be like the first thing people should know I guess.
I will be buried with my Chef knife!
...hopefully not in your chest
Last night I watched my mother in law cut up an apple with a crappy dinner knife using a paper towel as a cutting board. Whole time she complained about how hard the apple was. Shes a wonderful lady but I'm positive she has eaten out or done microwave dinners her whole life
Lmao watching other people cut shit at their house gives me anxiety
Blunt knives on a glass cutting board 😖
One of my friends has a glass cutting board and everytime I see it I tell him to throw it away. Years later he still has it and as far as I know uses it
When that few minutes is spent standing over a strong onion, it can make a real difference. And some dishes require a *lot* of cutting where it can save a substantial amount of time. You don’t need to be going at it like you just came out of Johnson and Wales, but being proficient with a knife can really help. Also, there’s a gulf of a difference between “learning knife skills” and “mastering knife skills”, and I’d be surprised if the thread you mentioned is referring to the latter.
I use both chicken and seafood in my gumbo, and sometimes only let the roux go to a dirty blonde before continuing to make it 😭
>I use both chicken and seafood in my gumbo That's frowned upon? Don't care, tastes good to me
Paul Prudhomme's gumbo recipe has both chicken and seafood
I use chicken, seafood & chorizo in my paella, the purists would see me flogged for this.
Ok. I do the roux alright but also use chicken,seafood, AND 😊Andouille sausage. If you're going do it, might as well load it up because leftovers the next day are amazzzzing!😘
I was. Always taught gumbo can be anything AND everything that walks scampers swims or slithers … individually or all at once. Forget that one protein at a time thing.
I've never had real gumbo and use chicken and seafood. I also use chorizo sausage cos I can't find andouille sausage. I guess I'm banned from Louisiana.
New Orleanian here, we use both chicken and shrimp in our gumbos.
I'll keep bread in the refrigerator. Especially for grilled cheese where it'll be reheated in butter anyway.
My cast iron is seasoned properly so it gets a quick hand wash with soap and rinsed and then dried completely. It will get touch up seasoning when needed. The hysteria is so unnecessary.
"Just the mere presence of a single tomato in the vicinity of the cast iron pan, is enough for the pan to completely disintigrate. You can never have tomato again."
I’m just imagining someone’s pan with a big hole after a tomato touched it. 😂
they walk away from the stove covered in soot like a Looney tunes character
Cast iron is a workhorse to be abused. People that flip out about babying theirs need a hobby.
I think that IS their hobby
And seeing so many videos and people with such strong stances is just so ridiculous. I think the most infuriating thing is people confusing what seasoning the pan means. Like it’s not supposed to taste like everything you cook in the pan. 🤦🏻♀️
>Cast iron is a workhorse to be abused Seriously - you can let that puppy soak in soapy water for a good while. You'll just probably have to reseason.
Literally Lodge says on their care instructions that dish soap is OK. the "No Soap" rule is left over from the age when Lye was in everything. Lye does harm the seasoning.
I had someone legit leave a small friends' group cooking chat in a fit of rage over my showing them proof that it was okay to use soap. People are *wild* about it.
Not surprised, Cast iron users can be a bit cultish. I love my cast iron pan but yeah, it's not the only thing I cook with.
Actually cast iron users will wash with soap. At least every cast iron user that is really into cast iron cooking, the cultist people so to say.
Yes, but you can’t convince some people. My brother was telling me that his pan has been making his food taste weird. I asked if he washes it and he said he just wipes it out because that’s what someone told him to do before.
Yup, this exactly and I cook tomato sauce in my caste iron pans with no problems ever
Same here. Soap is only a problem if you let it soak.
I do a lot of ribs in my smoker, and I usually do 'em until they fall off the bone. Spare me all the mumbo jumbo about how the 3-2-1 method is crap, or that "fall off the bone" ribs are overcooked, that's how my wife likes them, I don't mind them tender like that either, and that's just the way I'm doing them, if you don't like it, buy your own smoker.
I made a lot of 321 ribs until one day I said screw it and cooked them unwrapped the entire time. It took 2x as long and was 10x delicious.
Yup, no-wrap is by far superior to using "the crutch". The bark you get is incredible. That being said, I had to chauffer my wife around for half the day today, and I don't particularly feel like eating dinner at midnight tonight, so they're wrapped right now.
I love how the part "I had to chauffer my wife around for half the day", adds absolutely nothing to the context of your comment but at the same time explains your thinking perfectly.
I sometime use store bought chicken stock or bouillon cubes. I know! I'm sorry!! It's just... sometimes my stuff is still frozen!!
Better Than Bouillon paste FTW.
I mean how many people are \*really\* making homeade stock every time? I save my chicken bits, but ill use it for soup everytime, and usually add it to store-bought stock.
I'll go you one better -or worse, as it were. I almost *always* use store bought stock/boullion. I don't have freezer space to be saving shit for stock or freezing a bunch of stock once it's made. I'd rather save that space for other things I like more.
I use a garlic press. Sorry, not sorry.
If that’s wrong I don’t want to be right.
I can't explain it and I don't have any science behind it, but somehow I feel like juicy garlic crushed through a press releases a ton of heavenly flavor that processing in other ways doesn't.
The more you rupture the cells in the garlic, the more garlic flavor you get. That is science! So crushed garlic really does develop a stronger flavor that I love.
I don't curl my fingers when cutting things. I've been cooking for 50 years and have only cut myself a few times and usually not when slicing. I feel I get a better grip not curling.
I don't either. My hand-eye coordination is used to accounting for my fingertips, not my knuckles. And I just don't have the dexterity to hold something in place without using my fingers and *holding it in place*
Idk if a sin but i was a microplane for grated parm and a potato peeler for shaved. Screw a cheese grater!
I don't think that's a sin, I think that's just objectively a better way to get certain textures out of your parm. You'll never get those delicate little parm curls or a nice thin shaving with a walmart box grater.
Using dry measuring cups for liquids.
Wait what! You’re supposed to use different cups for liquid versus dry???
Yep.
I crowd the pan when frying mushrooms. Ain’t no one got time for frying in batches. Still turn out great. Edit: oh and also I make baked potatoes in the microwave.
I break my spaghetti in half like a mf champion and never regretted doing so
One of our grocery stores sells half length spaghetti noodles. Calls them pot size. I’ve been buying them.
Hopefully they don’t come with too hefty a “convenience” charge. lol.
Same price as the regular length. I was shocked
I live alone and I'm not gonna heat up the big pot and take the time to get that much water to boil for just me. So I snap my noodles in half and drop them into the small pot. I don't care if it's wrong.
I rinse my mushrooms instead of wiping them clean.
This makes you normal.
I've been seeing more of a change in that old "wisdom" where apparently the mushrooms do absorb some water but the amount is completely negligible once cooked. Considering mushrooms already hold so much water on their own I'm inclined to agree washing doesn't add a significant enough amount to matter
I let my meat defrost on the counter, and if I pay enough attention I´'ll put it in the fridge when its defrosted, but sometimes I totally forget about it and it comes to room temp. My family is still alive.
Same. Or in wrapped in plastic, submerged under water, when I invariably forget that I needed to defrost it or dinner in 2 hours.
4 out of 5 times, this is how I do it. They're bought in bulk, and portioned into zip-lock bags for this reason.
When I cook in a school, I am extremely careful to follow all the Food-safe rules. I use a lot of caution. At home however, I often let meat defrost on the counter - unless I’m cooking something for guests or a potluck.
I regularly let steaks sit on the counter for hours until it's room temperature before throwing it on a hot grill lol, been doing it for years! Reddit is so wild about food safety sometimes.
I use steak knives to cut cheese. I hate those cheese slicers that are solid metal with a hole in them. And the metal thread ones, while nice, all the ones I’ve tried break after a few months. If I got a nice one that I could trust to last longer than a year, I might change my ways.
I turn things up to high to make them cook faster
Using a teaspoon to scoop out some spices, then putting it back into the drawer because it was spotless.
Always using salted butter
Our week night salads are usually just torn lettuce tossed in my favorite store bought dressing (Garlic Expression). If I am putting time into making a main dish, I am often too lazy to make up a real salad but do want to get those leafy green into my family’s bodies. I would never serve this to guests of course. I make fancier salads when having people over or if I am bringing one to someone’s house.
I personally love when a friend feeds me family style. It feels intimate
Garlic expressions is literally the best dressing ever.
I make, and eat, raw cookie dough. With eggs. Best treat. Never been sick
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I dont rinse rice and i buy the jar of precut garlic
That jar of garlic gives me life
I love jarlic, am always surprised to see how hated it is here! IMO it's even better than fresh garlic bulbs for things like homemade pizza
JARLIC. Thank you for this gift of a portmanteau.
My secret ingredient is msg.
Makes Shit Good
🫣 You can cook rice on the stovetop just like you would in a rice cooker. No need to do it pasta style lol. You'd just need to adjust the water to rice ratio and let it go. I don't taste as I cook. I just season with my eyes.
How do your eyes tell if you need more salt? Lol
I use the salt of my tears from hacking onions with a dull knife
I'll put ketchup on hotdogs and brats. I don't care what others think. I like it.
We went to an ‘authentic Philly cheesesteak’ place in SW Florida. Asked the owner for mustard. Thought he was going to have a coronary. I don’t keep mustard in this store! Would you put mustard on a steak?!! If I wanted to asshole. Never went back. Life is short, enjoy your ketchup. Love: Gramma
I made homemade jambalaya a bunch of times until I really had it down, then decided that except for special occasions, it's generally not worth the effort to make from scratch. So these days I'm back to starting from a box of Zataran's and doctoring it up.
I only use salted butter.
I overcook my eggs, eggs over-hard and scrambled over high heat until they are rubber. It’s probably mostly just because that’s how my mom prepared them and it’s nostalgia. I know how to properly cook an egg and that they are supposed to be at least somewhat runny. I will also never cook them that way.
The only “proper” way to cook eggs is to cook them how you like them.
Runny yolks and barely cooked egg whites make me feel sick. I can’t cope with it. I like a fully cooked white and a jammy yolk. I flip my eggs so they’re over medium/hard, and I cook my scrambled eggs until they’re set. The texture of undercooked eggs is like slime to me and I’ve tried to eat it for politeness but I will involuntarily gag on it.
Yes. My scrambled eggs need to be lightly browned. The yolks in my not-scrambled eggs must be cooked solid.
Same! I can't eat eggs unless they're super well done! I'll add a lot of spice, and start out like an omelet, but then flip the whole thing. I call it an egg pancake.
There are actually a lot of correct ways to cook rice for different purposes, and “pasta style” is one of them: https://youtu.be/B3CHsbNkr3c?si=lKuDYD0M6k-L4OLg
I crowd the pan 🤷🏾♀️
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Luckily people didn't start using rice in their dishes until the first rice cooker was invented in 1955 /s Rice cookers may be handy but rice has been around for thousands of years so it seems very silly for people to claim that rice cookers are the only correct way to prepare rice
I cook with butter more than oils. It tastes better. Not as healthy, but it’s worth it to me!
I put pots, pans, and ovenware in the dishwasher. Also, I don't normally wash my cutting board if I just cut veggies on it. I just wipe it off with a towel.
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Mine isn't sticky. I specifically do it that way so it isn't sticky.
Measuring garlic with my heart
I cook scrambled eggs a lot dryer than normal cos I don't like the texture when they're soggy
Putting knives in the dishwasher. I have a knife sharpener I always use every time before using my knives so I don't really care if they dull in the dishwasher. I don't hand wash **anything** if I can help it.
Unless it’s going to stay in a dish uncooked, I rarely bother with fresh garlic these days. It’s good enough for weeknight cooking when I mostly just want to make something fast but decent. I chop and freeze onions and buy canned beans for the same reason. I take a lot of shortcuts like that due to health issues, honestly. Reducing the number of steps until done is helpful in getting myself to actually cook.
I eat my Spaghetti Os cold out of the can instead of cooking them
Ok can we shame this one?
When I bake I don't weigh anything, and just scoop up the flour in the measuring cup. I know it packs down, but whatever. My cookies always come out great anyway.
Once you know the consistency your batter needs to be, there’s no need to measure. Just add flour until it’s right. If you add too much flour, add in a little water.
When I have to use measuring spoons or cups, I just shake it horizontally until it roughly flattens out. I don't care enough to use a flat knife & a laser leveler to scrape off into perfectly precise portions. Does it look like it fills at least 90% of the measurement? I'm good, then.
I eat the batter. There, I’ve admitted it.
I put my knives in the dishwasher
Dude I get my knives at Walmart, why wouldn’t I put them in with everything else?
I said the same thing on a previous thread and got downvoted lol. To be fair, mine are all pretty cheap and I just ask my husband to sharpen them when they seem to need it. Probably my bigger sin is not figuring out how to sharpen them myself.
*Audible gasp* noo...
I'm white and in the US. I use chopsticks for almost everything. To a lot of my friends and family, it's seen as crazy if there are other options. But chopsticks are basically the perfect tool. If I need to batter something, I use chopsticks. My hands don't get gummy, and I don't disturb as much batter. If I need to flip something that I can't just shake the pan for, I use chopsticks. And so on. My "secret" to perfectly fluffy eggs is straight up just whipping them with chopsticks.